Behind the Veil
by MH Cynogriffon
Summary: Kili eavesdrops and finds out that a Hobbit will be with them on their quest, he and a few dwarves scramble to find out about Hobbits. What they find disappoints them. What they don't know is that over the years, Hobbits have changed. Poverty, slavery, and war have spread across the Shire and when one of the dwarves is caught, things become personal. Bilbo is not what he seems.
1. Reading Up

**This was written for a prompt I saw. I know that I shouldn't be writing another story but after I saw the prompt it wouldn't go away. I'd try to write my other story's and I would start thinking about the prompt. So I decided that while I was on writers block for my other story's I would write this one, it shouldn't take mort than one or two weeks. Sorry!**

Ch.1

_In the Blue Mountains:_

"_Hobbits are fat, notoriously lazy creatures not worth mentioning in this book."_

Dwalin raised his eyebrows in disbelief and snatched the book Kili was reading from, "Come on laddie, does it really say that?"

Kili grabbed the book back, shrugged, and said, "Well, it is called The Best History Book Ever Written,"

Fili sniffed, "Some Dwarves can be so stuck-up."

Kili snorted, "Look at the pot calling the kettle black!"

Pushing some books away, Dwalin flopped down on the floor, "He's right you know,"

"Is not!" Fili insisted, he dusted off the book he was reading, "By the way, my book was much more informative."

Dwalin ignored him and began to look around the numerous shelves from his position on the floor, "I never thought I'd be in a library before, Erebor had quite a big one, Balin used to drag me in and force me to read."

"Balin used to be able to drag you?" Kili said, trying to imagine the muscular Dwalin being dragged by the shorter Balin.

"Only for a little bit," Dwalin assured him.

Fili huffed, "Let's not get off topic, alright?"

Kili nodded and then asked, "Which was?"

Fili rolled his eyes, which he did a lot around Kili, "You remember Kili. Hobbits."

_Flashback_

"What information are you looking for?" the librarian asked, frowning at Kili and Dwalin for he was sure he had never seen them before.

Fili, a regular visitor, stepped forward, "Actually Rolmo, we are looking for anything on . . . what was it Kili?"

"Hobbats," Kili answered, "Or something like that."

"Ahh!" Rolmo exclaimed, "You must mean Hobbits! Quite elusive creatures, also known as halflings. I'm afraid there is not much on them,"

He showed them a small shelf where three books rested looking pitifully unread. Each dwarf took a book and started to read.

_End flashback_

That had been two hours ago and they had found close to nothing. Fili, always optimistic, organized the three books alphabetically in their shelf and smiled, "Well, at least we learned something,"

"Yeah," Kili said leaning back on one of the cushions scattered around the room, "I learned that books are more boring than I remember."

Dwalin frowned, "When was the last time you read something?"

Kili shrugged, "No idea, my tutor just tells me everything,"

"_Anyways_," Fili stressed, "We should talk about what we found,"

Dwalin snorted, "Hobbits don't sound anything like burglars,"

"After all," Kili joked, "they aren't good enough for The Best History Book Ever Written,"

Fili rolled his eyes, "That book was just stupid."

"Well what it said was kind of what all the other books said," Dwalin said seriously.

Fili sighed, "You're right, whatever they're like, Hobbits don't sound like burglars suitable enough to go on our quest. Are you sure that you heard right Kili?"

Kili nodded, "My eavesdropping skills are as good as ever. Gandalf said a Hobbit of the Shire. Than again, maybe Gandalf's gone mad? Looked a bit loopy to me."

"Nah," Dwalin shook his head, "Thorin wouldn't be putting so much trust in him if he was crazy."

"Birds of the feather," Kili muttered, dodging Fili's fist, "Oh, I'm sorry Fili. Shouldn't have insulted your hero."

"Shut up." Fili mumbled.

Dwalin huffed, tired of their arguing and frustrated that they had found nothing, and stood up, "Well if it's not too much trouble, I am going to finish some important matters that need to be taken care of."

Kili snorted as the large dwarf left, "Probably only came out of curiosity. Why do we need a fourteenth person anyways?"

Fili gasped, "You wouldn't leave with thirteen!"

"Why not?" Kili asked, "It's just a number."

"Just a number!" Fili shook his head in disbelief, "It's the most unlucky number of all! Surely you know that?"

Kili sighed, "I just don't get why that matters. By the way, why did Thorin let Gandalf choose anyway? We could have brought Gimli."

Fili shrugged, "I think Gandalf insisted. Uncle Thorin hasn't told me much yet; he said to wait until we're at the burglar's house."

Kili gasped in mock horror, "Thorin hasn't let his precious prodigy in on the secret! How scandalous!"

Fili chuckled, "You won't ever stop being funny will you?"

"Nope."

Both brothers left the library, arms on each other's shoulders, talking enthusiastically about the adventure before them, not knowing that their adventure would start much sooner than they thought.

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_The Shire:_

Miranda Proudfoot clutched the hand of her young daughter tightly as she crept around the side of the hill. She knew that little Hilda was smart enough to remain silent; growing up where she did silence was essential for survival. Both Hobbits were scared stiff that they would be caught, they were breaking curfew after all, but this was the opportune time.

"Come on darling," Miranda whispered quietly to Hilda, "We should nearly be there,"

Two weeks ago, Miranda had heard of a safe house from a dying escapee who hadn't made it there in time and had been caught by the curfew guards. His directions had been hurried and hard to understand. Miranda was pretty sure that she was totally lost. She shivered; if she was caught she knew what would happen.

"_Psst!_"

Miranda jerked and looked around startled, did someone just psst her?

"Hey!"

There, behind the rosebush and underneath a window. She looked closer; a Hobbit sat there with gloves on and grass clippers in his hands.

"Hello?" She said tentatively, more like a question than a greeting.

"Are you here for Master Baggins?" he asked.

Miranda nodded and clutched Hilda closer. No one would ever take her daughter while she was alive.

"Shhhh," The Hobbit warned her, "Some guards usually come around here about now, you're lucky I found you now."

"You . . . You're not going to turn us in?" She asked him.

He shook his head, sandy colored curls flying around, "Nah, you're too pretty for that."

Miranda blushed; no one had ever called her pretty, not even Hilda's father.

"Well," the Hobbit continued, "I'd better get Master Baggins, wouldn't do to leave you and that fine girl of yours out in the cold would it?"

Miranda shook her head and watched as the Hobbit put his grass cutters down and opened the small gate leading up to the round green door of a Hobbit hole. He disappeared behind the door for a few minutes before returning followed by another Hobbit that had wavy light brown hair and thoughtful hazel eyes.

"Well Hamfast Gamgee, what have you found here?" The new Hobbit said kindly.

Miranda swallowed her fear and said, "My name is Miranda and this is Hilda."

The Hobbit smiled, "Welcome, I'm Bilbo Baggins but please, call me Bilbo. I get enough of 'Master Baggins' from Hamfast here. Please, come inside and get yourself warm."

Miranda gasped, never before had she been offered entrance to a Hobbit hole. She followed Bilbo inside thinking that, maybe, this would be the beginning of a new life for her.


	2. Crafty Wizards

**Hello! I forgot to put a disclaimer so . . .**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

**Once again I have updated.**

_**"**Hamfast and Miranda sitting in a tree. K. I. S. S."_

**Excuse me, that was my muse Errol. Nasty spoiler.**

Ch. 2

As the last dwarf representatives trailed out of the meeting room, Thorin sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and sat down heavily in the nearest chair.

"I swear they get worse every year," he muttered irritably.

"I'm sure they try their best," said a grey haired man as he sat down next to the dwarf.

"It's bad enough without all your lampooning (_new favorite word!_) Gandalf," Thorin said to the older man. "The dwarves from Dain refused to come; they demand that I come personally to the Iron Hills to meet with them."

Gandalf raised an eyebrow, "And you intend to go?"

Thorin once again ran a hand through his greying hair, "What choice do I have? Their far too stubborn to change their minds, if I want their support I will have to go."

Gandalf nodded, "This quest would be a lot easier with a dwarven army at our backs. As long as you return in time to leave for the Shire to meet the Burglar, I say you should go."

Thorin stood and placed his hands, palms down, on the long meeting table. "About your Burglar . . ."

Gandalf quickly cut him off with a wave of his hand, "Oh, no, no, no, Thorin. You're not getting out of this. Thirteen of your finest dwarves and my Burglar: that was our deal!"

"Two of the dwarves should count as half each," Thorin reasoned, "Kili and Ori aren't of age yet."

Gandalf pointed a long finger at the regal dwarf, "You picked the dwarves, and I now pick the Burglar."

"But a Hobbit?" Thorin questioned. "I've read some books on them and every book says the same thing: Hobbits are lazy creatures that detest any type of adventure."

"You have read biased books that were based on the general ideas about Hobbits," Gandalf said reasonably. "Not all Hobbits are like that, this one in particular."

Thorin sighed, "Alright, we'll do it your way. However, I would like to know the last time you saw this . . . Burglar?"

Gandalf gulped, he had been wishing that Thorin would not ask that question. "Well," he began slowly, "It has been a . . . fair amount of time but Hobbits rarely change; I'm sure he is still as adventurous as he was before," he hastened to assure Thorin.

Thorin raised his eyes to the ceiling, "Aule help us." He turned his eyes, now glaring, back to Gandalf, "You mean to tell me that you have not seen this Hobbit for what you call a _fair_ amount of time?"

Gandalf nodded slowly, "But I intend to visit before you and the dwarves arrive. It would be prudent to give him some warning."

"It would be prudent not to go at all," said Thorin.

Gandalf took out his pipe and began to light it "If we did that, many of your dwarves would not go seeing as thirteen is such an unlucky number," the wizard smiled slightly behind his pipe.

Thorin's eyes widened, "You knew!" He put his hands behind his back and began to pace, "You knew."

"Maybe," Gandalf said innocently, infuriating Thorin more. The wizard stood, "Well, I must be going now if I want to make it to the Shire in time. Farewell, Thorin."

Thorin gave him a curt nod and muttered a dwarven curse at the retreating wizards back.

6p6p6p6p6p6p6p6p6p6p6

Hamfast chuckled as he watched little Hilda run around Master Baggins large garden trying to catch an especially large butterfly. Over the two weeks since the gardener had first found Miranda and her daughter, the eight year old girl had changed drastically. She had been a shy, dirty Hobbit child but after a long bath that had shown that her true hair color was a light blond, and a lot of Master Baggins' good food , she had perked up quite a bit.

The garden was her favorite place, and Hamfast did not mind her being there a bit. The gardener would sit there for hours at a time watching and playing with her. She loved all the flowers and would listen as Hamfast told her how to plant and care for them.

Unfortunately, Miranda could not leave the Hobbit hole; her master knew her face well and would have told the guards searching for her what she looked like. However, no one had cared much for Hilda and she was able to play close to the hole, though Master Baggins warned Hamfast not to let her go too far and not to play with other Hobbit children. Hilda had no problems with the arrangements, in her old life she had never been allowed to play at all.

Hamfast shuddered, he was glad that Master Baggins had rescued him from such a fate, the gardener had been on the market once but Master Baggins had swiftly out bided everyone else. Hamfast was eternally grateful to the kind Hobbit and vowed to help him in whatever way he could. No servant could ever be as loyal.

"Come on little lass," He called out to Hilda, "It'll be near time for second lunch soon."

Hilda giggled and ran back to Hamfast, she had soon gotten used to the idea of having nearly seven meals a day and second lunch was by far her favorite.

"Okay Uncle Hamfast," she chirped, Hamfast had been made honorary uncle rather fast.

"Let's go . . ." Hamfast froze mid-sentence and frowned, "Who is . . .?"

Strolling up the winding road to Bagg-End was a tall man wearing long grey robes and carrying an oaken staff. He had long grey hair and a bushy beard and seemed to be looking for something, or perhaps someone.

"Hilda," Hamfast said quietly, "Why don't you go in through the back door?"

Hilda, not sensing Hamfast's change of mood, nodded and skipped through the small door that led to the kitchen. Hamfast followed her quickly.

"Master Baggins," He said urgently, "Someone's coming!"

Bilbo put down the bowl of fruit that he had been carrying, "Who?"

Hamfast shook his head, "I've never seen him before, but it looks like a man."

"Slave trader," Bilbo stated, "Hamfast, you know what to do."

Hamfast nodded, grabbed Hilda, and beckoned to Miranda, who had been in the pantry.

"Come on," He whispered to them.

The three Hobbits, led by Hamfast, hurried down to Bilbo's cellars where Hamfast pushed aside three barrels and pushed a special latch on the wall. Slowly, the wall began to cave, reveling a small, hidden room.

"We use these to hide the escaped slaves when people come." Hamfast explained to the two frightened ex-slaves.

The Hobbits stayed in the hiding place until a small knock rang out and Bilbo's voice said, "Bravery,"

Apparently this was a code word because Hamfast pushed open the entrance and stepped out.

"Who was that?" Miranda asked.

Bilbo answered, sounding rather flustered, "Gandalf the Grey, a wandering wizard."

"What did he want?" Hamfast persisted.

Bilbo frowned, looking confused, "He asked me to go on an adventure." He shook his head, "But I said no."

Hamfast exchanged a puzzled look with Miranda, "An adventure?"

Bilbo nodded, "Yes, but it is over now. It would be better if we just forget it."

Hamfast and Miranda agreed but both of them were wondering the same thing. Was it really over?

**PLLLLLEEEEAAAASSSEEE Review! OR I WILL THROW A WAFFLE AT YOUR FACE!**


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